“But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation…” – The Apostle Paul (2nd Corinthians 1:6)
In our culture, the norm is to avoid suffering at any cost. There are lots of people who would be willing to help you in a time of need, so long as it is convenient. Far fewer are those who would suffer hardship and inconvenience in order to serve you or help in a crisis. But the love of God that comes to dwell within us as Christians is an unconditional love. Thus, Paul tells the Corinthians that he is willing to suffer affliction in order to bless them.
Is there anyone in your past or present who has made great sacrifices on your behalf? Were any of those sacrificial people doing so unexpectedly? Maybe they were strangers or just someone who went out of their way to take an interest in you at a critical time in life. Without those people our world would be worse off for it. It is a noble thing to intentionally make sacrifices for the sake of someone else. As parents we do so for our children, but all too often people don’t make sacrifices unless there is compensation. (Hmmm … I guess if you get compensated, it’s not really a sacrifice after all.)
In the case of Paul, he was making these sacrifices without requiring compensation and doing it for complete strangers. Many of us restrict our sacrificial giving and acts of service to those we know and love, or at least to those who, in our opinion, deserve it.
Whoa … wait a minute … no compensation for Paul? Well, actually, he did sometimes receive offerings of assistance, though not always, and certainly not because he demanded it. They were gifts. And beyond that, there were some intangible compensations from God that were also gifts. You will find out about them below.
Paul was involved in a three-party relationship … himself, those he helped, and God whom he served. The reason he made sacrifices was not founded on the needs of the people he was “sent to,” it was because of the “sender” … God who called him, who sustained him, and who gave him a purpose.
Think about it … the idea of sacrificing for others is at the very heart of what God is asking us to do. It is not about increasing our goodness points. It is not about caring for someone because they care about us. It is not about helping those who deserve it. It is because we have a Great Provider who has done far more for us than we could ever do for anyone else.
We get to imitate the God of the universe by doing sacrificial and costly things, because God has always been willing to do sacrificial and costly things for us. At the cost of his Son’s life, he forgave our sins and gave us a new heart. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
Are there benefits? Of course, there are. God certainly wants to bless us with tangible benefits … home, family, comfort, and well-being. But these are secondary to God’s amazing intangible benefits. And as Paul is trying to say, it is worth it to forgo tangible benefits when doing so will benefit others. “But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation…” (2nd Corinthians 1:6)
Our sacrifices for the sake of others open doors within them to receive comfort and salvation. It also opens doors within us to receive the intangible benefits of love, peace, hope, joy, and fulfillment. Would you trade these five things for all the treasures in the world? I wouldn’t.
I am thankful for your sacrifices for the sake of others,
Chaplain Mark